Water-closet seat.



No. 674,|66. Patented may 14, |901.

E'. M. JDRALEMON.

' WATER cLosET SEAT.

(Application med nu. 2'?. ms.) (No Model.)

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WIITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT EEICl-.

EDGAR M. .IORALEMON, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

WATER-CLOSET S EAT.A

s'PEciFICATIoN forming part, of Letters'ratent No. 674,166, dated May 14, 190'1. Application sied nach 27, 1899. sem-a1 no. 710,539. (No man.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDGAR M. JoRALEMoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have in vented certain new and useful Improvements in Water-Closet Seats; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to makeand use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specication.

The object of this invention is to secure in that class of water-closet seats and covers having light weight rigidity and strength to firmly support an adult sitter and to resist without breakage the jarring and concussions incident to ordinary use, qualities common to Wood, and yet to avoid the unpleasant `odor and other unsanitary conditions or qualifications involved in the use of wood. u

Wood -as asuitable material from which to construct water-closet seats and covers is in general use-because of its strength and lightness and the ease with which it is shaped to receive the body of the sitter, 85e., but as Acom- Inonly employed is possessed of disadvantageous qualifications, being porous, and thus capable of absorbing urine and providing a lodgment for disease germs. Thus the main object of the invention Ais to provide a more sanitary water-closet seat and at the same time i retain the advantages due to the use of wood and to obtain other advantages and results, some of which may be referred to hereinafter in connection with the description of the wor ing parts.

The invention consists in the improved Water-closet seat and in the arrangements and combinations of parts of the same, all substantially as will be hereinafter set forth andl finally embraced in the clauses ofthe claim. Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which like-letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each of the several a section of the same on line and Eig. S'is an enlarged detail section showing the relation of parts more clearly.

In said drawings, a indicates the seat proper, comprising a covered wooden body centrally open to allow the passage of effete or excrementitious matter, the inner and outer edges a' a2 being rounded to permita conifortable sitting. Said seat is adapted to be hinged to a bowl in any suitable manner.

b indicates the cover, which is also of wood, covered, as will be hereinafter described, and hinged to the bowl, the hinge-leaves c c of the seat proper and cover being preferably arranged upon common hinge-pins d.

The wooden parts of the seat and cover are of common construction and may be varied to accommodate the said parts to various bowls or otherparts or conditions. .The said wooden parts have heretofore been commonly finished and protected by a covering of furniture-varnish; but because of the thinness of said varnish, because of its brittle nature or the ease with which it is scratched or broken open by contact or abrasion, and because of its losing its protecting quality when repeatedly subjected to-the action of'urine it is soon removed from the wood, leaving the wood uncovered and exposed to the urine, so .that the latter is absorbed by the wood,and the porous wood soon becomes offensive both to the nostrils and eye and is a harbor for microbes or disease germs.

Paints of various kinds have been employed to protect the woodwork, but with the same and other objections, thick or enamel paint, for example, when subjected to the severe 4strain of ordinary use coming off from lthe woodwork in cakes, giving a patchy eect tothe eye and leaving the woodwork exposed.

In lieu of varnish or paint cork-veneer has been suggested as a cover to the wooden body. While this to some extent, because of itsnonabsorbent quality, might serve to prevent 'the absorption of urine, yet because of its numerous cavities or pitted character it also furnishes lodgment for disease germs. Furthermore, cork as commonly found in theA market in the form of a veneer is not plastic nor elastic to enable `it to be `molded ,and

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stretched to conform nicely to the curves of the wooden body portions without cracking or being cut into numerous sections.

To avoid the objections to wood,metal seats have to a limited extent been employed; but such seats have been cold to the touch and have because of their weight been instrumental in breaking the bowls. To avoid these objections and other objections which itis deemed unnecessary to furthercatalogue, I have provided the wooden seat with a layer of matter which is unaected by urine or other fluids issuing from the human body, is impervious to said fluids, so that they cannot enter the same and resist or be removed under the ordinary cleaning operations, is imporous or unpitted and not provided with small cracks, seams, cavities, or recesses open to permit a lodgment to the microbes or germs ofv disease and is essentially inimical to the spread or increase of said germs, is non-brittle and will not become cracked or broken under the impact of the hinged cover, and will maintain a high polish, sothat it may be kept in a cleanly condition ,pleasant to the eye. The material employed in the covering is sheet-celluloid or a mixture of nitrocellulose dissolved in amyl acetate or any other wellknown celluloidal solvent, pressed'or otherwise formed into thin sheets and supplied with suitable coloring-matter, by which the covering may be made to accord with the trimmings of the toilet-room. These sheets are cut out in sections ef, shaped to inclose the woodwork completely, the edges of one section being adapted to overlap those of the other or others, forming a double thicknessat the edges of the seat and cover, where the liability to sharp contact is greatest. The sheets having been cut to shape are softened by heat or in any other suitable manner and in this condition molded to the contour of the seat or cover and cemented by a celluloidal cement g, by which the veneer of celluloidal nitrocellulose is firmly secured to the wood. When cool the edges of the first application are filed, scraped, or sandpapered to remove any shoulders or abrupt edges and a second section is applied in like manner, the same being molded while soft kand cemented and then tiled, sandpapered, and polished. Thus the woodwork seat as a whole is thoroughly and perfectly insulated from dampness, and especially the j liquid excrements from the body, and the seat is durably maintained against the objections above noted.

The wooden seats such as I have covered and such as are commonly constructed'for the market are as a rule made of two or more sections or pieces joined together by glue. Being of wood the said seats are apt to warp and split. The coverings heretofore provided for water-closet seats-such as varnish, cork- 'veneer of greatthinness, enamel-paint,

&c.-whil'e temporarily impervious to water or watery' moisture will soon, because of the severe wear to which water-closet seats are usually subjected,especially in public places, become worn off, broken, or be otherwise removed from the surface of the seat in places, so that moisture will gain access to the joints. As a result the sections of the annular seat will separate at the joints and the seat become useless as such. In my improved construction I provide the wooden seat with a jacket of great tensile strength which surrounds the wood at all sides, breaking the joint, so that should the latter be imperfect because of a lack of glue the parts or sections of the seat will still be securely joined by the non-fragile tube-like covering, or should thewood split along its grain the parts /will still be joined in a tubular case, and because of the tensile strength of the sheet-celluloid or nitrocellulose, especially in its tube-like form, the sections will be held together in proper relative position. This tubular construction of the celluloidal covering or binding jacket is obtained by forming sections ef, each of a single annular or ring-like piece, the upper section covering the whole upper surface of the seat and extending down at the outer periphery of the seat and into the perforation of the seat and the lower section likewise covering the whole lower surface of the seat and extending upward on the outside edge of the seat and into the perforation, the cover sections overlapping and closely hugging the convexities and other conigurations of the seat, so that when the overlapping edges are 'united and the covering shrinks by the evaporation of certain of its ordinary ingredients, such as camphor, the wooden seat will be wholly inclosed and the parts bound together to secure the desired impermeability and strength.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new is 1. The improved water-closet seat, comprising a core-like body of wood, rounded at its inner and outer edges, and upper and lower annular sheets of celluloidal matter, the inner and the outer edges of on'e of said sheets being turned upward, and the outer and inner edges of the other of said` sheets being turned downward and materially overlapping at the said outer and inner edges of the annular wooden body and thereat elfeeting a thickening of the covering of celluloid at both said outer and inner edges and affording a greater resistance to tension when the sheet-celluloid shrinks and hugs hard around lthe wood, the said overlapping edges being cemented together by a cement insoluble in water or the like, and the imperviously-united vsheets of celluloid serving as a binder, tubelike in cross-section and adapted to support or stay the parts of the ring of the wood in the event of splitting, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with the wooden corelike body of upper and lower sheets of plastic IOO IIO

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matter such as Celluloid adapted to shrink with age and having great tensile strength, the said sheets being shaped to conform to the surface of said bodyand having their edges materially overlap and the overlapping surfaces of said sheets being cemented together by a cement, insoluble in Water, substantially as set forth.

3. The improved Water-closet seat comprising the annular body or core of Wood, a tubelike annular incasement or covering of sheetcelluloidal matter, adapted to shrink close to the body or core and bind the parts of the same firmly at all points therearound, the

EDGAR M. J ORALEMON.

Witnesses:

CHARLES H. PELL, RUSSELL M. EVERETT. 

